By: Luis Manuel Gomezchico and Francisco Alvarado
Accenture
You survived the crisis… now what?
During an economic crisis, when credit markets shrink, many companies quickly change their strategy to maintain their working capital. With an eye to the short term, they may take actions like delaying payment to vendors as much as possible, while trying to make payments right at the deadline, or minimize inventory restocking. All of this in order to scrape together as much cash as possible to keep operations going. But we know that these actions are not sustainable.
When the crisis is over, the challenge faced by many organizations has less to do with survival than how to improve their working capital to fund investment and resume growth. To do so, they will need to introduce actions that are sustainable in the medium and long term, to manage their inventories and accounts receivable and payable processes in order to have the right impact on their working capital (Figure 1).
By: Norma Betanzos (1), and Francisco Paz (2)
Social Network Myths and Realities
By: Ricardo Medina
The true reach of personal networks, the drivers of effective change, and their implications for your company
¿Are the so-called “social networks” a fad?
With the mass proliferation of Internet connections, the widespread use of cell phones and the development of online collaboration sites -also known as social networks-, marketing, sales and even politics are facing unprecedented changes. Marketing experts are increasingly interested in the value of social networks. Mexico is no exception to this social shift. The Federal Telecommunications Commission reports that, at the end of 2010, there were 81.3 cell phone lines for every 100 Mexicans. Alexa (2011) found that five of the 10 most popular sites in Mexico provide platforms for online social networks, in which users generate and share their own content. Figure 1 shows this trend in online activities from search engines to social networking.
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